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Eliot Spitzer aims for political comeback five years after prostitution scandal

Former New York governor and attorney general announces he will run for comptroller of New York City.

Former New York governor Eliot Spitzer collects signatures from citizens to run for comptroller of New York City on Monday in New York City. Spitzer resigned as governor in 2008 after it was discovered that he was using a high-end call girl service. (Andrew Burton / GETTY IMAGES)

By Reuters

Mon., July 8, 2013

NEW YORK—Eliot Spitzer, nicknamed “The Sheriff of Wall Street” for his aggressive stance toward the financial industry before he resigned as New York governor five years ago in a prostitution scandal, is ready to return to politics.

Democrat Spitzer, 54, has set his sights on the less prestigious job of New York City comptroller, a post akin to chief financial officer. He said he wanted to reinvent the position by taking a more activist role, similar to the Wall Street watchdog role he played as state attorney general.

He used that office as a springboard for a successful 2006 run for governor, but his time in Albany was cut short after he was identified as a client of a prostitution ring. He stepped down in 2008.

Spitzer’s candidacy sets the stage for a colourful New York election season with another Democrat also seeking office after being sidelined by a sexual scandal. Former U.S. Representative Anthony Weiner, who resigned two years ago after he sent lewd pictures of himself over Twitter and lied repeatedly about it, is running for mayor of New York City.

But a history professor who specializes in politics says there is an important difference between the two scandals. “Weiner’s scandal involved sending a picture, while Spitzer’s was breaking the law, all from the guy who was supposed to uphold the law,” said Princeton University’s Julian Zelizerhe.

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Weiner, who announced his candidacy in May, surged in recent polls to near the front of a pack of candidates, closing in on City Council Speaker Christine Quinn. Quinn, who would be the city’s first lesbian and first female mayor, last month published a memoir in which she recounted her struggles with bulimia and alcohol abuse.

Spitzer’s past will dog him throughout the campaign. One of his potential rivals is Kristin Davis, a former madam who has claimed to have provided Spitzer with escorts and who in April launched a run on the Libertarian ticket.

“Eliot Spitzer broke state and federal laws in his use of prostitutes and paid no penalty. I broke the law and paid my debt to society,” said Davis, who spent four months in jail for her role in the scandal. “There cannot be two standards of justice, one for the average citizen and another for the political and social elite.”

Prosecutors decided not to press charges against Spitzer.

Having two candidates with checkered pasts campaigning at the same time will make it harder for each to move the debate beyond scandal, said Kenneth Sherill, professor of political science at Hunter College in New York.

Spitzer’s candidacy was greeted with typical irreverence and wit in the New York tabloids. “Here we ho again,” declared the New York Post on its front page. “Lust for power,” said the New York Daily News headline.

Still, voters elsewhere in the United States have signalled a willingness to give second chances. Earlier this year, former South Carolina governor Mark Sanford, who had resigned after trying to cover up a visit to a mistress in Argentina, was elected to Congress.

Spitzer, who became a television commentator after leaving public office, decided to run during the July 4 holiday weekend, he said.

“This is the dream: to be able to assume office on behalf of the public once again,” he said.

The city comptroller manages five pension funds, analyzes budgets and audits city agencies. Spitzer said he hoped the financial community wants someone “who understands markets” in the comptroller’s office, which he aims to revitalize in the way he did the attorney general’s office a decade ago.

Current comptroller John Liu is running for mayor.

The deadline to file a petition to be on the Sept. 10 primary ballot to succeed Liu is Thursday, by which time Spitzer must collect 3,750 signatures.

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